On November 25th, Jon Femling MD PhD will give a lecture for the Evolutionary Medicine class. His talk will focus on the topic of microbial virulence evolution, pointing out several novel ways to prevent the evolution of antibiotic resistance using molecules that target virulence without killing microbes.

Jon Femling MD PhD

Dr. Femling will discuss ways to inhibit quorum sensing and virulence  gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus, transforming this often deadly bacterium from an enemy to a friend. Since this strategy does not kill the bacteria, it is expected to limit selection for antibiotic resistance.

Targeting Agr Quorum Sensing Inhibition in Staph

His recent paper can be read in its entirety here:

Extra reading: Evolution of virulence. Ewald PW. 2004. Infect Dis Clin N Am (18)

There is no writing assignment this week. Work on your final presentations.

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Joe Alcock

Emergency Physician, Educator, Researcher, interested in the microbiome, evolution, and medicine